Hunter x Hunter : Germain Joins The Hunt

After midnight had passed,

Germain lit the "Teleportation Lantern" atop the tower.

The light pierced through the darkness of the "Ancient Labyrinth" like a beacon, illuminating the distant surroundings.

Even though it shone so brightly, the "Brion Parasite" did not attack the "Ancient Labyrinth Tower."

Instead, they continued their relentless work: finding more living hosts to parasitize, bringing them to the blood sea beneath the tower, and dissolving themselves into the blood with fearless sacrifice.

New "Bloodthirsty Apostle of Pain" were being born.

Ging waved to the other three as he watched them disappear into the light of the "Teleportation Lantern."

Once the glow faded, the top of the tower was left under the pale gray moonlight.

He stood there alone but felt neither fear nor loneliness—only excitement.

Starting tomorrow, as a "Ruins Hunter," he would begin the true exploration of the "Tower" and the "Ancient Labyrinth."

Just like Don Freecss once did.

September 28, 12:15 AM.

The "Lantern of Limeiro Castle" lit up, and three figures appeared in the light.

The Germain squad had mentioned before leaving that they would return to "Greed Island" by midnight on September 28 at the earliest.

They managed to keep their word.

But no one had taken that return time as certain or precise.

After all, they were venturing into the "Ancient Labyrinth," which was home to one of the Five Great Calamities, the Botanical Weapon Brion. Its B+ danger rating was exceptionally high.

Those on "Greed Island" knew this journey was far from an easy one.

It was highly likely the Germain squad would face all kinds of difficulties, along with the chance of unexpected events...

Their failure to return on time would not have been surprising. In fact, the harsh reality was that they might never return at all.

When Sanbica and Dwun, who were on duty here, saw the "Teleportation Lantern" materialize and light up, followed by figures appearing, they were both shocked and happy.

They had really come back shortly after midnight!

However, the next moment, when Sanbica and Dwun saw that only Germain, Bisky, and Shizuku had arrived, their faces changed drastically.

Sanbica managed to stay calm, though it could be that she simply didn't like showing her emotions, which made her seem cooler.

She stepped forward to check the condition of Germain, Bisky, and Shizuku, who looked quite disheveled.

She didn't ask about Ging. 

With the situation like this, was there really anything more to say? 

Should she even prod at their wounds? 

Perhaps Ging had been killed right in front of them not long ago.

They must have gone through an extremely terrifying two days. Gon might have sacrificed himself to protect them.

Such sorrowful matters should be left for when they were ready to talk about it.

Dwun's face turned pale, and he swallowed hard, almost collapsing to the ground.

At that moment, he wanted to rush to the Dark Continent to save Ging…

But he knew it was impossible now; the tragedy had already occurred.

In the end, he steadied himself with one hand on the wall, forcing himself to appear stronger and braver.

He then took out his phone and sent a message to the others.

At a time like this, Sanbica needed to check the survivors' injuries, as they must be physically and mentally exhausted.

That meant it was up to Dwun to send the sad news to the others.

Dwun didn't resent Germain, Bisky, or Shizuku.

He believed they were hurting too, and Ging must have made that decision willingly.

What was truly pitiful was Gon, who had never seen his real father since he could remember. Now, he would never have that chance.

After sending the message, Dwun thought about whether he should bring Gon over to raise him properly into adulthood.

Dwun wanted to tell him that, although Ging wasn't a good father, he was a great person...

In an instant, so many thoughts crossed his mind. He took a few deep breaths and gathered the courage to walk up to Germain and the others.

At that moment, Sanbica had completed the entire "Special Physical Check-up and Hospital Records" process.

However, wearing a mask, she frowned as she looked at the conditions of the people in the "medical records."

How should she put it... it seemed much better than expected... They were indeed injured, but there were no signs of serious wounds... Was it the "Breath of the Archangel" that worked?

But then, what kind of situation could have forced Ging to go to the extent of self-sacrifice?

This should be a dire situation.

However, if it was truly a dire situation, wouldn't the condition of Germain and the others be worse?

Sanbica's puzzled expression, trying to make sense of it all, was seen by Dwun as the group's situation not being that bad either.

He quickly asked with concern, "Are their injuries okay? How should we handle them? We can prepare something on our side."

Sanbica was momentarily stunned. Before she could answer, Bisky waved his hand and, with a relaxed expression, said, "It's fine, it's fine, we're all okay. We just had Sanbica check on us to put your minds at ease."

Germain, who had been looking over the new "trait" he received, nodded when he heard those words.

How calm... How could they possibly be fine?

Dwun carefully observed them.

They were calm to the point of being cold-blooded...

No, it should be that, in this situation, they didn't know how to face us, which is why they were showing this kind of self-protective behavior.

In reality, they must be deeply saddened inside…

Dwun sighed deeply. He really wanted to smoke a cigarette, but the situation didn't allow it.

"Anyway, you all should rest well tonight. We'll talk about things tomorrow morning…"

At this moment, hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor outside the dungeon hall. Soon, a group of people rushed into the room.

The ones who came in were Menchi, Buhara, List, and Abengane.

When they saw that only Germain, Bisky, and Shizuku were present, they knew that Dun's message was true.

Immediately, the dungeon hall was filled with a sad and silent atmosphere.

Even the slowest among them, Germain, Bisky, and Shizuku, could sense something was wrong.

Everyone's expressions were too strange. What was even stranger was that, upon seeing that Ging was missing, they didn't even ask about it.

Did they not care about Ging's well-being?

Bisky's eyes shifted, and she quickly understood.

She slapped her forehead and said loudly, "It's our fault. We should have explained it from the beginning."

Everyone turned to her, puzzled about what she meant to explain.

"Ging is fine. He's still alive," Bisky said with a wry smile. "Although we ran into some setbacks, in the end, Germain killed the 'Bloodthirsty Apostle of Pain,' which allowed us to retrieve the 'Herb for All-illnesses.'"

"The reason Ging isn't here is his personal choice. He wanted to stay in the 'Ancient Labyrinth,' where there is a safehouse that will never be attacked. We left all the resources we had with him, so don't worry…"

The group paused for a moment, then looked at Dwun with strange expressions.

Dwun was stunned, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Ging... he's not dead?"

"Do you really wish for him to die?"

Germain took out his phone, which had a video recorded by Ging, and played it for everyone to see.

"Although it's possible to use Nen abilities to fake a video, there's no need to go that far, right?"

In the video, Ging was indeed alive and well, briefly explaining the events that led up to this moment.

Next, Germain had Shizuku take out the "Herb for All-illnesses" and show it to everyone, which cleared up all the doubts.

List glanced at Dwun, unable to resist rubbing his forehead before shaking his head, seemingly embarrassed by his unreliable companion.

At this moment, Sanbica's cheeks were also flushed red, but with her mask on and no one around to pay attention, nobody noticed the change in her expression.

She had also immediately assumed that Ging was dead, not expecting such a twist.

Dwun felt parched and dry-mouthed. Eventually, he smiled helplessly and said, "My bad, my bad..."

Before he could finish his self-reflection, someone rushed in from the hallway. The person was tall and muscular, like an iron tower—it was Razor.

Razor had seen the obituary and rushed back as soon as he heard the news.

"Is Ging dead?" Razor showed an expression of disbelief, looking at everyone. "Where's his body? Don't tell me you didn't even recover his body!"

He spoke with a hint of reprimand, but as he saw the strange looks from everyone, he froze in place, realizing that something unexpected had happened.

So, it was left to List to explain, with Germain and Bisky adding more details. This finally eased Razor's mind, who then laughed and scolded Dwun, "You should have confirmed this first."

Just as he finished speaking, two people entered from outside—twins Eta and Elena.

The obituary that Dwun had sent had shocked them both.

"Is Ging dead?"

They showed expressions of sorrow, until List took another few minutes to clarify everything.

At this point, Dwun felt so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a hole in the ground and bury himself in it to avoid facing anyone.

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